by Liz Crickard

Transition Coordinator

Free State High School

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There are many benefits to connecting with students outside and in nature. A growing body of research is demonstrating the positive influence nature has on social and emotional well-being, including positive impacts on concentration, problem-solving, creativity, and cognitive benefits (see references below).

 

For me, the benefits are obvious when I step outside of the walls of a school building with students. I experience the benefits myself and witness the impact on students when we:

• Replace the sound of the school bell and crowded hallway traffic with the sound of birds and insects,

• Experience movement outdoors as opposed to long periods of sitting in a classroom, and

• Replace gray walls, windowless rooms, and institutional settings with sky, green space, wildflowers, and prairie.

 

Before I began working at Free State High School, I attended an event sponsored by the Kansas Land Trust where I met Elizabeth Schultz who told me about the prairie financed by her environmental fund. I made sure the prairie was one of the first places on the Free State campus I visited and was excited to see the space teeming with wildflowers and butterflies.

 

I have looked for opportunities to introduce students to the prairie since that time. My intentions are to:

• Introduce individual students or groups of students to a setting where they can connect with nature on their own, with peers, and in specific science classes at Free State.

• Have discussions about environmental service learning and restoring natural settings in the community.

• Facilitate conversations with students in a setting/environment that is calmer and more inspiring than the traditional office/classroom space within the school building. These conversations do not have to be about nature. Being outside and in the beautiful and peaceful setting of the prairie is a conducive environment to have discussions about future plans, life issues, and challenges at school.

• Provide safe distancing in outside environments to reduce Covid-19 spread in small group meetings. 

 

I look forward to facilitating conversations and times to connect with students at the Free State Prairie. I would also like to explore possibilities for staff, families, non-science classes, and community members to connect in this space.

 

References on the Social and Emotional Benefits of Nature

  Kuo & Taylor, 2004.  “A potential natural treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from a national study”.(American Journal of Public Health) 

• Summary of Positive Effects of Nature at: https://positivepsychology.com/positive-effects-of-nature/

• Taylor, A., Kuo, F.  (2008). Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of Attention Disorders; 12 (5), 402-09.

Wells, 2009. At home with nature: effects of “greenness” on children’s cognitive functioning. (Environ Behav).